574. TRANSACTIONS Of SECTION K. 
Davies; the former being especially interesting as showing a tendency to fusion 
of the pedicels, thus forming two carpels on one pedicel or in one flower; and 
one new species of Chenopodiacee, Atriplex varia, Ewart and Davies. 
Very little is known as yet as to the economic properties of the plants of the 
Northern Territory, more particularly as regards their fodder value or poisonous 
properties. In the present investigation special attention is being paid to those 
plants possessing either of these properties. Dr. Gilruth obtained data during 
his first visit of the food value of certain grasses, which have since been 
identified and published in the ‘19th Contribution to the Flora of Australia.’ 
Ewart and Morrison remark on the Leguminose :— 
“The Leguminose include not only many of the most valuable fodder plants, 
but also many poisonous plants. Few of the plants on the present list have been 
tested as yet from this point of view, but poisonous species are known to occur 
in the following genera :—Bauhinia has three poisonous species, one of which is 
a fish poison, and another an anthelmintic, but no data are available for the 
species of this genus on the present list. Brachysema undulatum grows in 
other parts of Australia, and causes mechanical injury. Canavalia obtusifolia 
causes gastro-enteritis in stock. 
Several species of Cassia are considered poisonous, and, according to Greshoff, 
this also applies to Cassia Sophora and (. Sturtii. No less than five species of 
Crotalaria are recorded as poisonous, and of these one, @. Mitchelli, grows in 
the Northern Territory. Three species of Hrythrina and two of Hrythrophlcum 
have been recorded as poisonous, but they do not include any of the species 
growing in the Territory. The Asiatic Flemingia congesta is a tenifuge, but 
the F. lineata of the Territory has not been tested. Many species of Gastro- 
lobium are poisonous, but only one incompletely tested species (G@. grandiflorum) 
is included in the present list. 
Indigofera boviperda, however, has in West Australia been responsible for 
large losses of stock. The genera Phaseolus, Psoralea, and Sesbanea include 
poisonous species, but apparently none from the Territory. Rhynchosia minima 
is, however, poisonous according to Greshoff, and the same may be found 
ultimately to apply to some of the species of Swainsonia and Tephrosia. Several 
species of the latter genus are well-known fish poisons, and this applies to at 
least one species from the Territory, namely, Tephrosia purpurea. Tn this 
direction there is much work to be done in the future. 
Included in the present work is a map illustrating the route taken by the 
expedition, and showing the more important plants collected at each station, 
that is, those which give some indication of the natural resources of the country. 
4. The Flora of the Environs of Melbourne. 
By C. 8. Surron, M.B., Ch.B. 
Introductory.—The consideration of our flora in its relation to the factors 
responsible and the estimation of these in explaining the distribution and 
association of its species have as yet been undertaken only tentatively. 
Physiography.—The district to be considered is somewhat arbitrarily restricted 
to an area within a radius of almost thirty miles from Melbourne. The greater 
part of this is of low or moderate elevation and contains three main geological 
formations :—(1) From N.W. to S.W. a dat plain of the newer basalt gently 
sloping to sea-level from an elevation of almost 1,000 feet, drained by a simple 
river system in many places canyon-like. 
(2) From N.E. a more diversified extent of Silurian formation, including, 
however, a considerable area of plutonic rocks where the highest elevations, 2,000 
to 2,600 feet, are to be found; the whole drained by the Yarra and its tributaries. 
(3) To the 8.E. the area of Tertiary sands with an undulating surface rarely 
attaining 200 feet. Here the drainage system is ill-marked and over a great part 
hardly apparent. 
Ecological Conditions.—(a) Climatic.—Although the rainfall is pretty evenly 
distributed over all the months, the bulk of it occurs in winter and spring. The 
average annual fall ranges from about 16 inches at the station in the basaltic area 
to more than 50 inches in the Silurian. Snow very rarely falls. The temperature 
only occasionally surmounts 100° F., and the highest temperatures do not long 
